What Might Have Been
by aviatrix8
Summary: Sain starts looking at Kent in an entirely different light, one morning... Mild shonen-ai.


Copyright, Aviatrix8, 2004. Fire Emblem and all related characters are property of Nintendo et al., and are used without permission. 

xXxXx 

This is my first shonen-ai piece... (You have been warned.) 

xXx 

Fire Emblem fanfic: 

"What Might Have Been..." 

by Avi

As dawn broke over the encampment of Lord Eliwood's army, the sun's rays filtered through the flap of a tent, being shared by two of Caelin's cavaliers. 

As soon as the light reached the eyes of the one of the young men, he promptly blinked... Then, he sat up in his camp bed and began to stretch. After doing so, he gazed at the other occupant of the tent. 

"Come on, Sain... We're going to be late for sentry duty," said Kent pointedly. 

"Mmph," was the only reply from the other cot. Then Sain rolled over drowsily, facing away from his partner. 

Kent sighed. He knew he should be used to this by now, but his friend's habit of sleeping in, always faintly annoyed him. Still, despite this, Sain always managed to get up and dress, just in time for his knightly duties. 

Shaking his head, Kent got up from his bed, and began to prepare for the day. 

xXx 

While Kent pulled off his nightshirt and started to dress, Sain rolled over in his cot, and began to watch his companion through half-lidded eyes. 

He knew that it irritated Kent to no end when he slept in like this, but being a soldier of fortune, Sain also knew to get some sleep whenever he could get it; Kent was too duty-bound to realize that, sometimes... 

There was a lot of things he did that he knew infuriated Kent, quite apart from all the womanizing... Like the way he never changed before going to bed; Sain usually shed all of his armour, all of his clothes, and then flopped into bed. Kent had once remarked acidicly that Sain would someday freeze off some of his body parts by doing this, but he was usually so tired from battling by this point, that he didn't care. 

Then again, there were things about Kent that constantly annoyed him; like the way he never seemed to notice the other women in the army that were attracted to him... He acted like a perfect gentleman around them... And acted like a perfect tin soldier. What was the man made out of? Metal? 

Sain found himself wondering to himself, once again, if Kent just didn't like... Women... 

No, that couldn't be true, concluded the cavalier. He knew for a fact that his friend pined for their liege lord, the Lady Lyndis; he just didn't do anything about it! Besides, Kent was probably too moral to indulge in attraction to the same sex... 

Same sex relationships were not uncommon, even in their army; rampant speculation abound in their camp about various pairings... Sain noticed that it was primarily the girls in the army who liked to gossip about this subject... Especially about the male relationships. 

The cavalier had never really understood their obsession with male couples, for women, as always, held more fascination for him; in fact, there was this one dream he had recently, that involved the Lady Lyndis and the pegasus knight Florina in a... Compromising situation... 

But he was letting himself get distracted again... Ah, yes. The men. 

Probably the most obvious male pairing (and most whispered about among the ladies of the camp) was that of that frowning, auburn-haired mercenary, and the impossibly beautiful blond monk who was his constant companion (even Sain had mistaken the latter for a woman at one point, much to his own embarassment). 

Sain had even heard his name whispered in conjunction with Kent's, as a couple... The cavalier was acutely grateful that his friend had never heard this rumour, for if he had... Kent rarely showed his temper, but when he did, it could be as fiery as his hair colour. 

Still... Sain found himself appraising his partner through narrowed eyes, as the latter buckled on his breastplate. Was Kent attractive...? 

The cavalier had to grudgingly admit yes, he supposed... Certainly other women did, thought Sain, with a pout. Although his friend didn't have his own boyish good looks, he had did a mature look to him; that reminded Sain of a comment he overheard by Sir Wallace, back when the two of them were still trainees: that Kent acted as if he was forty, instead of fourteen... 

And as the other knight knelt down to strap on his greaves, Sain had to admit that Kent had a nice physique, as well... His partner wasn't as muscular as he was, but was equally well-built (running around Caelin Castle dozens of times will do that to you, he recalled with a wince). 

Perhaps it would be easier to pursue a relationship with a friend, he thought wryly, rather than to chase women who just didn't seem to want to return your affections... 

Sain was still admiring Kent's body line, when he was suddenly startled out of his reverie. 

"Sain... Sain!" snapped Kent abruptly. 

"Mmph...?" replied the other cavalier, who decided to feign unconsciousness for the moment; his eyes still appeared to be partially closed. 

As Kent watched impatiently, Sain shifted around in bed for a few moments, then sat up and stretched theatrically... After yawning and rubbing his eyes, it was only then that he seemed to notice his friend's penetrating gaze. 

"Oh, good morning, Kent!" greeted the cavalier, in a cheerful voice. The other knight was glaring directly at him, with his hands on his hips; he ignored Sain's pleasantries. 

"I'd like you to stop that, please," said Kent plainly, in the quiet, irritated tone that his fellow cavalier recognized so well. 

"Why, whatever do you mean, Kent?" remarked Sain, his eyes twinkling with innocence. 

"You know very well what I mean, Sain," answered the other knight, bluntly. "You've been eyeing me ever since I got up this morning, like a barmaid who's had her bodice laced up particularly tight... Don't try to deny it!" Kent added, as his fellow cavalier looked rather guilty. "And I've seen that gaze often enough to know when it's being used on me, so stop it, this instant." 

Sain ran a hand sheepishly through his tousled, brown hair. 

"Alas, you have found me out, old friend..." he commented, heaving a great sigh... The cavalier then leaned back casually upon his bed. "But is it a crime to watch another man dress?" he added, in teasing voice. 

"It should be, the way you were looking," said Kent grumpily. 

Sain then propped his head upon his arm, to gaze at his partner steadily. 

"Then are you saying that it's wrong for a man to find another man... Attractive...?" he asked, in quiet tone. 

Kent paused for a moment. "I'm not saying that it's... Wrong," he replied, diplomatically. "But it is just as immoral as a man desiring a woman... Especially when they happen to be soldiers fighting in the same army," he finished pointedly. 

The now-armoured cavalier turned to leave, when Sain's voice stopped him in his tracks. 

"Wait, Kent..." 

When the other knight turned to look at him, Sain quickly slid out of bed and walked across the tent towards his friend, until he was standing right next to him. Casually resting his arm across the entrance of the tent, he leaned in close to Kent's face, to gaze deeply into his warm, brown eyes. 

As he leaned over his partner, Sain found himself very aware of his own state of undress, at the moment... 

"And what if I said that... I found you attractive, Kent...?" said the cavalier softly. 

Kent went silent for quite some time... Sain was standing so close to him at the moment, that he could watch the subtle changes in his friend's facial expression... 

But Kent didn't even so much as blink; he merely raised a red-haired eyebrow at his partner. 

"Then I'd say that you were acting even more immoral than usual, Sain," commented Kent, coolly. "Now, hurry up and get dressed, will you?" 

"Yes, commander..." answered Sain, with a half-hearted salute. He had meant to say it mockingly, but it fell rather flat. 

His partner shot him one last, measuring gaze, before flipping open the flap of their tent and exiting the place. 

Sain sighed to himself, as he turned around and walked across the tent. What made him even consider Kent as anything other than his comrade-at-arms? he thought. He should've known that his partner was far too much of a straight arrow, to ever stray from its flight path... 

I must've been still half-asleep with fatigue, to even think of coming on to Kent, the cavalier concluded. 

Then, attempting to put all romantic thoughts about his partner out of his mind, Sain knelt by the pack beside his cot, and began rummaging around in it for fresh clothes to change into. 

xXx 

Kent stormed off rather grumpily across the army encampment. The nerve of Sain, making a pass at him, his partner, of all people! His friend was more lust-crazed than he thought... 

But... If he had to admit to himself... That one moment, when their eyes had met, and their faces were close enough to touch... Even the knight had to confess, that his heart had skipped a beat... 

Kent then shook his head. "I've been hanging around Sain too long," he muttered to himself. His friend's licentious nature must be rubbing off on him; perhaps sentry duty would keep his mind off the whole fiasco... 

Still... The knight found himself considering, if only briefly, what might have been...

END 

xXxXx 

I was going to call this story "The Odd Couple", but someone already beat me to the title, so I had to go back to the original name... (I still had the show's theme song going through my head while writing this, though.) 


End file.
